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Spring potato galette…or at least it was spring when I started cooking! Clearly, I have a lot of catching up to do!

Today was the first official day of summer. After a long but pretty wonderful year of teaching I’m ready for a bit of a break. Even though I start my summer job in just a week, I’m officially taking advantage of the longer, lazier days. Today I went to my first baseball game of the season (Go Sacramento RiverCats!) and lounged by the pool.

I love summer break but sometimes August rolls around and it seems I’ve accomplished nothing. So I made a list this year and am hoping to slowly check things off. I need to organize my garage (always!) and make a beer bottle wind chime. There are too many books to read and a few lessons to revise, too. Some knitting and sewing project to start, and a few to finally finish. Plus cooking. Cooking and baking of course.

This recipe I think I have down. I found the recipe for the potato galette from Joy the Baker (she’s the best – have you gotten her cookbooks yet? Me either but I want them!) and severed it at my May beer dinner. Like Joy said, it’s the perfect comfort food. And also may have contributed to why last year’s bathing suit was a little tighter this season…

You start with potatoes and chives.

I got to use my mandolin again to slice the potatoes before roasting.

Next, toss the potato slices with olive oil and spices. Joy uses Old Bay but I have a giant bottle of Johnny’s Seasoning that gets used about once a year to make Chex mix at Christmas…

Then, you lay the potato slices out to roast.

Meanwhile, you can make the pie crust. I went ahead and used the tried and true Perfect Pie Crust Recipe. Divided up nicely, the recipe makes enough for eight smaller galettes.

If you have any potatoes left after snacking, it’s time to layer them with cheese and chives.

The chives are so pretty. I currently have some growing in my garden. Hopefully mine will survive my not-so-green thumb!

Finally you fold the pie crust over the edges a bit and bake!

The galettes came out a little crisp, totally rich, and wonderfully delicious. I served my with a salad and an IPA.

When I was a child and we went out to dinner my mom use to take a napkin and somehow rolled and folded it into two little “babies in a blanket.” It was a good trick – I spent a good amount of the pre-eating waiting time rocking those cloth children back and forth. Making these Southwest Egg Rolls reminded me of that, just with a more satisfying crunch!

I’ve never made egg rolls or worked with egg roll wrappers so I was pleasantly surprised with how easy they were to make. Basically you mix a bunch of stuff together, wrap ’em up, and bake away!

First, start with some cheese and chives.

Next, add some spinach. The original recipe calls for frozen spinach but I was too impatient to wait for it to thaw so I cut up some fresh spinach I had in the fridge. Plus, fresh is just better than frozen. (Please excuse the photo quality – I’m back to my little point-and-shoot.)

Throw in some diced chilies and beans. I went with pinto instead of black to mix it up a bit.

Add some corn, too, and mix it, mix it up.

So that’s it for the “cooking” part. Now you’ve got to roll ’em. Roll ’em up.

Start with an egg roll wrapper.

Plop about 1/4 cup of filling near the center.

Start rolling about half way, then fold the two edges to the middle, finish rolling. Finally, seal the little corner by dipping you finger in some water and brushing it over the corner.

Wrap up a bunch and you’re ready to bake.

I baked about half the rolls I made and then laid out the others to freeze. (They reheated pretty awesomely.) Also, I had a good cup of filling left, since there were only 20 wrappers in the package I bought.

I decided to pair the rolls with the Scuttlebutt Gale Force IPA. It was a good, mild IPA. I liked the flavor but it was super carbonated. I wondered if it was just my bottle, or it was just characteristic of this beer. And let’s be honest. I picked the beer out for the name. Scuttlebutt!

Southwestern Egg Rolls

I found the original recipe here at Annie’s Eats. I’m putting in the measurements from the original recipe but I didn’t really measure when I put the mixture together – fudging it a little works.